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Nice Guy Eddie

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Nice Guy Eddie

  1. Trump pardoned Nikola (EV car maker) CEO who had been found guilty of defrauding investors due to lies about the company. Prosecutors had been pushing the judge to get the CEO to pay restitutions upwards of $700m to the defrauded investors. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/trump-pardons-nikola-trevor-milton-ceo-securities-fraud-electric-vehicle.html Oh, and the now-pardoned felon is currently represented by Pam Bondi's brother.
  2. there's more to the story. Stefanik's district was not in danger of not electing an republican and most likely a MAGA candidate. Elise had just won 62-38. Maybe there was worry about her seat being empty but there have been at least 2 Dem deaths since January so the GOP still has a majority.
  3. the best part of the Signal debacle is that it showed us more of the inner workings of the Trump cabinet. They quickly turn on each other, Hegseth just wants to be liked, and possibly hasn't kicked his drinking problem. Now they won't trust each other which will ultimately create more chaotic episodes. Sadly, we may end up with military casualties due to their incompetence.
  4. Yes many "foreign" brands are assembled here but to increase any American manufacturing is a major and costly decision. Would it be better to build an American manufacturing vertical to lower the customer costs, or is it better to wait out Trump? It's not like anyone is building a manufacturing plant within a short period anyway. If the tariff occurs, your importing arm will have zero choice but to pay it for several years at a minimum. Also the tariff will most likely encourage the increase of prices for cars that have no/low impact of the tariffs. Say if you're Volkswagen and your car prices are about to go up 25% for the customer. If Ford decided to also raise their car prices 25% or 22%, is that really much of a difference? If I were the foreign companies, offer more creative financing to get customer monthly costs down. Offer bigger lease incentives. etc. And as for Tesla being the big beneficiary of this policy that assumes that anyone wants a Tesla.
  5. for entertaining videos about financing, leasing, upside-down loans, low credit scores check out https://www.tiktok.com/@benzsandbowties He appears to be a sales mgr at Mercedes store in Ohio. He records his interactions with the salesmen talking about deals and customers. He's not disrespectful towards customers but openly talks about crazy scenarios, to me. Like prepaying 40K excess miles on a lease, trading in a vehicle that was purchased 2 days ago and the standard situation are people that keep rolling negative equity from one car to the next. And it looks like many customers either want to ignore or don't understand car value depreciation. It's something we all know but many luxury cars are owned by people who really can't afford them. Maybe they stay one step ahead of it being repo'ed but that isn't quite affording it.
  6. the well behaved dog can easily drop a deuce on aisle 4 before you know it. And I don't blame the dog for being a dog.
  7. I've known more than one person who went into the lease with the plan to purchase the vehicle at the end. They felt this was the least expensive since it was the vehicle they wanted at a lower monthly cost than financing today. They then proceed to quickly surpass the mileage allowance because it didn't matter if they were going to buy it. But you already know what happens next. They decide near the end of the lease term they are tired of the vehicle and want something else. Now they owe a large bill when walking away from it.
  8. Love the rain in Houston. Gave me an excuse to skip a vendor event at the Houston Open today.
  9. I feel bad for the children that have morons for parents. As for the parents themselves, I have zero sympathy for their feelings if their child is sick or even dies. It's their fault. I would have no problem if they were arrested for endangering a child if not manslaughter but since this is Texas, Abbott will pin a freedom medal on their chest.
  10. I would bet that Harris County does offer mental health resources to their employees. It's difficult to force people to seek treatment especially if they're hiding it. You also have many people that ignore or refuse to see a doctor for physical issues as well.
  11. In my limited experience of friends,coworkers or family with kids getting athletic scholarships to smaller schools, they all end up quitting the sport. Maybe they get 2 years of full or partial paid school, but they get sick of the grind and lack of a personal life. I imagine that going from a top high school athlete to a middle of the road to struggling college athlete also comes into play.
  12. leaves rant: I had a neighbor constantly dispose of her leaves and grass clippings in the storm sewer off her curb. And while a blade of grass or a leave does not change the storm sewer capacity, I don't think it was meant to be used in that way.
  13. Do you know if their recommendation is for a mental reset or to give your body a deeper rest and recovery? Or perhaps both.
  14. The forward PE ratio is 117 today. Is that ratio estimating unofficial future revenues that are falling off a cliff, or only officially reported earnings and future guidance?
  15. Not-SIAP but Tulsi proved what POS she was yesterday in the congressional hearing. She refused to answer whether the Signal user TG was her or not. Said that the NSC was reviewing the situation. Refusing the answer is what you do when cops pull you over and asked where you just were. Not when you're asked if you participated in a conversation and the guy next to you is confirming he is on the conversation. It makes me wonder what else Tulsi has been using Signal for, and is that the reason that she doesn't want to go down that line of questioning. You answer Yes, user TG is me, then a logical next question is do you use Signal for other conversations? Refuse to answer the first question and it prevents the next questions from being asked.
  16. Wow. $108 for the 3 years plus I'm sure there are royalty and other fees. So maybe another $1/mo. Do you know if you can transfer the subscription to another radio if you buy a new car.
  17. I wish BYD would sell in the US. While Tesla was light years ahead of everyone for a while, from all outward appearances they became sidetracked with the cybertruck disaster and full self driving. I can appreciate trying new moon shot projects but why stop innovating with your products? BYD looks to have innovated well beyond Tesla in many areas.
  18. If I were BYD or other EVs car makers, I would start a marketing campaign about how our vehicles are not hated and experience much lower incidences of vandalism. I don't expect the US car makers though would want to antagonize Elon or Trump at the moment.
  19. And even if Trump states that the info wasn't classified, it speaks to their incompetence. Also has the govt cleared that Signal can be used for confidential or classified conversations? It very well might be acceptable but I don't know if the govt has said so.
  20. In what world would private conversations between the VP, Sec of Def, intel chiefs not be confidential? Even if they're talking about items that are fully unclassified, expressing their opinions about such items and future plans would 100% be classified. In a previous world, there would be a independent counsel named today to get to the bottom of this, including instructing those individuals to protect the communications from destruction if not outright destroying it themselves. But none of this will happen.
  21. Two people to blame for the current status is Bush and Rove. They loved to spread the idea that many undocumented folks were voting. They weren't at Trump levels where Trump claims that 15m voted but they set the stage. To them it was a harmless lie to create a reaction from their side. "Give George W. $25 so he can protect the vote." They started the breeze blowing in a certain direction and ~10 years later, it turned into Hurricane Trump and now most of the GOP distrust the govt. Except for the initial weeks post-9/11, Bush will go down in history as one of the worst Presidents in history. And honesty he has nowhere to go but up. Pretty much everyone on both sides the aisle think he's crap.
  22. I can see a pilot and passengers being concerned if someone is in the plane restroom for 30 minutes. The only reason that I can think someone is in there that long is if they have mobility issues and/or they're attempting to clean up a tremendous mess.
  23. Many have become conditioned to incorrectly consider skinny or lean is somehow unhealthy when that physique has always been the most healthy of any. It's interesting that as America has become fatter and fatter, the "ideal" physique has become more and more unattainable for most. Everyone wants to look like a NFL TE or middle LB. sugar alcohols can create some gastrointestinal problems if you're not used to them.
  24. I've heard/read the rumors that we may have seen the end of Turturro and Walken's participation. I hope they find a way to include them at some level and there is a desire on all sides for them to return. I know they didn't do much (any?) for the marketing efforts pre and post season this year. but that can also be explained in that they may have scheduling conflicts.
  25. SIAP but think about Gemma's outie experience in the last episode. She is suddenly surprised by Mark when he leads her out of Cold Harbor. They escape to the elevator, climbing over a dead man. Then she's Ms. Casey. Then her outie resumes consciousness in the locked stairwell seeing her husband walk towards another woman and ignoring her pleas. I'm fairly certain she doesn't know that Mark has been severed and does she even comprehend that she's severed? And does she have an easy method to get out the building including potentially having to walk up many levels to get to the ground floor. All while the building is in some red alert emergency status? The writers could somewhat get out of that problem if Cobel has discovered a method to get her or Devon into the building to assist an escape but we just didn't see it yet. It's reasonable to think that alone, Gemma would soon get caught due to her disorientation and uncertainty where she is. They have a guard at the top of the elevator, it's doubtful the stairwell opens up unguarded to the outside like a fire exit.
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